[pianotech] A Way Forward

[David Love]

Leave well enough alone, I say.  There are some problems with untrimmed
posts and html format, petty and ugly posts, OTs, it just goes with the
territory.  The new format, btw, is not immune to that type of posting.  In
fact it's harder to skip through them and delete to get to what you want.  I
don't see how the new format can be made workable at all.  This isn't
Facebook and shouldn't try to be.  Different concept, different philosophy.
We should cut our losses now before we get more entrenched and turn the
website into something else, maybe a place where the lonely hearts can find
a date.  

 

David Love

www.davidlovepianos.com

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Joe DeFazio
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 3:44 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] A Way Forward

 

A Way Forward

 

We have reached a difficult stretch of the road in our transition to a new
incarnation of these mailing lists.  Although I want to emphasize that I am
only speaking for myself as a list participant, I suggest the following:

 

1) To Allan Gilreath and the webteam, I believe that there is enough
thoughtful dissent about that utility of the new MyPTG site and its Higher
Logic software that it is time to announce that:

 

A)  This listserv format is not going away any time soon.

 

B) This listserv won't go away until there is reasonable consensus among
active list participants that there is a better alternative in place.

 

I am recommending this because there seems to be a fairly broad consensus
that the new software is in may ways worse than the listserv format to which
we are accustomed.  If you took it away and gave us something better, that
would be one thing.  Unfortunately, that is clearly not the case yet.

 

---

2) To pianotech and CAUT participants, let's take an honest look at the
current list functioning, and admit that while it is better in some ways
than the curent MyPTG site, there is definitely room for improvement.  I
can't possibly be the only one who is annoyed when someone posts a reply
titled "Re; Pianotech Digest, Vol..." which contains a reposting of ten
messages with the total content of new material being a reply of "Me, too!"
at the end.  That kind of thing happens all the time, as does incessant
off-topic banter, as does confusing threading and quoting.  And, surely, the
easy inclusion of photos of all sizes, sound files, and YouTube videos right
inside a thread would offer us opportunities for deeper and more instructive
collaborations.  So, listserv participants, I challenge you to do the
following:

 

1) Think about and post about those aspects of the current list functioning
that you like and believe should be kept as we move forward.  Post to this
list and tell us what you don't want to lose.

 

2) Explore other forums and websites, and post about what new and better
ideas and capabilities should be included in whatever comes after these
lists.  Post to this list and tell us how to grow into a better and more
powerful community.

 

There are forums and interactive communities across the web, and surely
there will be several of interest to most list participants.  Please, invest
in your own future by joining one, such as PianoWorld, a woodworking site, a
luthier site (I suggest The Pegbox over at MaestroNet), a remote-controlled
airplane site, or whatever.  Use it for twenty minutes a day for a week or
so.  Figure out what you like and dislike, and make feature requests to this
list.

 

If we do this, and reach some reasonable degree of consensus about what
features we must keep and what features we should add, we can then, as the
participants (and in most cases, as the ones who pay the bills around here),
task Allan Gilreath and the webteam to either fix the Higher Logic MyPTG
site or replace it with something that will meet our needs and increase our
capabilities.

 

---

Those are my suggestions, and I must emphasize once again that I am only
speaking for myself.  I am making them because I care too much about this
community and its members to stand by and watch it fall apart.  We can't let
that happen.  I also want to thank Allan Gilreath for replying and for
taking responsibility for things, which is a classy move in my opinion.  To
list participants, I want to close with an request:

 

Let's not "take our toys and go home."  Let's make it better instead.

 

Joe DeFazio

Pittsburgh

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